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Hi, hope someone here may be able to shed some light on this for me. I've recently purchased a wheelset from Superstar. Crest rims on Tesla hubs and I'm using Maxxis Holy Roller folding tyres with tubes as I regularly run at 60psi for the daily commute.
First off I had a nightmare fitting the tyres the first time - the rim tape supplied with the wheels was very thick and rubbery and made it all but impossible. A temporary change to electrical tape made it possible, but still difficult.
As it happens I needed a few things doing to the bike that I didn't fancy myself so handed it over to a competent LBS. Whilst it was there I asked them to fit some proper rim tape and check the wheels over. They found the spoke tension to be low and found the rear wheel to be out of true slightly (this may have been from my He-Man style tyre fitting attempt No.1). All was resolved and the bike handed back, but it is noticeable that the tyres on both wheels looked warped as they spin.
Now I've been reading up a lot on fitting tyres to Crest rims and I'm hugely pleased to report that it is indeed technique that enables easy tyre fitting to these rims. This morning both tyres were taken off and refitted with nothing more than my tender office monkey hands - marvellous! 😀
The problem is that even after refitting the tyres I still have warped looking tyres both front and rear. I've found that every time I fit the tyres that they move to the bead gullies at exactly 30psi with a pleasing pop, so it's not that. All I can think is that the new rim tape is impeding the bead from seating snugly with the rims? I did notice the tape wasn't quite centre in one section on the front wheel, but looked OK (not perfect) on the rear.
They aren't new tyres by the way and have a fair few miles under them, I never noticed them looking warped on the Mavic rims that they were on previously.
Apologies for the long post, but any thoughts?
Try letting them right down, squeeze the beads in away from the lip of the rim, squirt a little soapy water in around the beads and then pump them up as hard as you dare, say 100psi. Leave it for an hour or so and then have a look to see how it looks. If it's now straight let it back down to normal pressure, if not, have a look carefully round the tyre to see if there's any sign it's not seated, often the tyre has features where the bead is moulded in that more less line up with the edge of the rim. These will allow you to see if it seems to be out of round. If so you can mark the spots on tyre and rim, pull it apart and see if it lines up with anything obvious.
Sometimes, when a tyre hasn't gone onto the bead right, just adding more air doesn't help- it just gets it more stuck. With my 819s, letting the air out and backing it off the bead slightly then reinflating doe the job.
DO NOT USE SOAPY WATER!
Use talc, the best dry and non-corrosive lubricant for rubber. Every bike fettler ought to have a tub of it in their shed. Sprinkle it around, spread it all around the bead with your hands, fit the tyres, inflate them a little then go around easing the beads off the rims with your fingers then finish inflating. You'll find that the slippery talc makes them much easier to remove and fit.
I'm a bit confused, why didn't you just use the Stans yellow tape?
pump them up as hard as you dare, say 100psi.
pressure limit on crests is 45 psi I think? 100 psi will be very expensive and dangerous I think...
Have you got the stans yellow tape or similar on them now? I would think anything thicker than that will cause problems getting tyres to sit nicely.
I have a kenda slant 6 that I've never managed to get onto crests or arches without a slight 'wobble', even though it appears to be popped onto the rim correctly, I think the tyre is just mis shaped. It hasn't blown off and killed me.... yet....
oh and the wobble in your new superstar wheel, is probably from the build, I bought a pair of crest wheels from superstar and the back one was terrible, completely loose spokes within minutes of riding.
Stans yellow tape has been dispatched from CRC so I'm hopeful it will be with me soon. I didn't use the yellow tape to start with because I wanted to get out riding! Didn't work out though 🙁
The front wheel has also developed a clicking noise, if you shake the wheel you can hear something moving about in the rim, so the tape that is currently on there will be coming off to try and fix.
As far as I read on the Stans website it's safe to run higher pressures if you run with a tube - http://messageboard.notubes.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2948 I'm still not going for 100psi though!
I'll wait and see how it mounts when I've got the yellow tape on them. Thanks for the responses so far.
Why bother buying Stans rims and then add a tube?
The yellow tape is to seal the bed so you can go tubeless.
Why bother buying Stans rims and then add a tube?
Knowing what I know now I doubt I would buy again for my needs, but then hindsight is a wonderful thing.
My reasons for purchasing Crests and sticking with tubes were as follows:
-They were one of the lightest rims available
-Reportedly they were very strong for their weight
-They were available as a wheelset with the hubs I wanted
-They can be run with tubes
-Gives me the option to go tubeless in the future if I wish
The reason I won't be running them tubeless for now if that I also commute on my bike and run at 60 - 65psi, Stans recommends that these rims when run tubeless do not exceed 45psi.
I understand what the yellow tape does, but it also works as a rim tape does it not?
Ah man, crests.
I know this wont help you but I just sent my crest wheel back - will be ordering a XC717.
Wanted to use a tube also, even tho the tire and rim is tubeless ready - I just didn't have the goo and the valves etc for tubeless and generally couldnt be bothered - but wouldn't mind the option in the future.
I learn the technique for mounting, got my FirePros and older Nobbly Nic on fine, but my new NobblyNic Double Defense... no way was that going on!
Great shame as they look dope and weight a little less than XC717's.
Never mind!